A world where governments wield increasing control over traditional currencies and assets, the quest for true financial freedom and secure property rights has taken on renewed urgency. The Hayek Group, a local 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting financial freedom and education, turns its attention to Bitcoin in its latest blog post. As one of the leading local charities championing the principles of freedom and its resulting prosperity, the Hayek Group recognizes financial freedom as a fundamental aspect of individual liberty. In their ongoing mission to foster a financially literate society, they actively facilitate financial education and Hayekian education, including integrating Dave Ramsey’s financial literacy curriculum into Northern Nevada high schools and offering financial education and Hayekian education to college-aged youth. The organization also hosts monthly dinner meetings featuring speakers who share their expertise and perspectives on relevant topics.
Exploring the revolutionary potential of this decentralized digital currency, the Hayek Group highlights how Bitcoin transcends borders and empowers individuals to take control of their financial destinies. Just as sound money and property rights form the bedrock of a free society, so too does Bitcoin offer a path towards a future where individuals are no longer beholden to the whims of centralized authorities.
By Nicholas Maier
Bitcoin represents an international, revolutionary step toward freedom and property rights for every person across the globe.
This blog on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency focuses on the personal freedom and property rights aspects of Bitcoin in this blog.
When I introduce Bitcoin to people for the first time, I start out by telling them that Bitcoin represents a revolution in freedom for all human beings on the planet. Bitcoin allows every single person in the world who has access to a mobile phone and the internet to save and transact in an unconfiscatable, perpetually non-dilutive, hard asset that is not under the control of any centralized authority. It’s hard for most people to wrap their head around this concept. We are so used to the concept of the government issuing and controlling every aspect of money, that it is difficult to step outside.
Persons who are familiar with Hayek and the Austrian School of Economics are all well aware of the foundational importance of property rights and sound money to human freedom. Indeed, the founders of America were so keenly aware of the importance and sanctity of property rights and sound money that they wrote these provisions into the Constitution.
Tom DeLorenzo is an Austrian Economist and currently President of the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama. He excels at drawing out economics lessons from historical case studies. In his book, How Capitalism Saved America, he makes the point that it is important to understand the economic context at the time that Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.
“[T]he charge of depriving the colonists of the consent of the governed was primarily a protest of taxation without consent. After fighting a revolution…the Revolutionary generation adopted a government that would safeguard economic liberty. Several key parts of the constitution provided important safeguards. The Contract Clause, for example, prohibited any laws that abridging freedom of contract. For the founders this freedom was essential for they understood that property rights would not be secure without some mechanism to enforce the sanctity of contracts. John Adam’s views were typical of the founding generations: “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Over the past two hundred and fifty years, progressivism and government intervention have gradually but steadily eroded the property rights protections in the Constitution. Whereas the founders in their wisdom only designated that gold and silver be minted as legal tender and rejected the establishment of a central bank, we now find ourselves adrift in a fiat money system controlled by the Federal Reserve with no limits on the issuance of fiat currency.
How does one protect oneself from the predations of governments who control the currency, the money supply, and the ownership of hard assets like gold and silver? The government is actively eroding the purchasing power of the currency by inflating the money supply. And gold and silver are no longer a safe haven. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) classifies gold and silver as collectibles. Hence, they are taxed at a maximum rate of 28% on long-term capital gains.
The answer is a monetary system that is completely outside of and immune from control by any government or cabal. This is the essence of the Bitcoin network. A peer-to-peer network of cooperating interests (bitcoin miners, nodes, technologists and investors), each with a deep overriding incentive to maintain the integrity of the network.
What could be more free than an incorruptible, uncensorable, unconfiscatable, algorithmically scarce, digital asset that is available to anyone, anywhere, 24/7?
“Fix the Money. Fix the World”
– Lawrence Lepard
This is one of my favorite quotes because in six words, it describes the solution to our chaotic, conflict-driven world. The reason that our world is so messed up, is, to the greatest degree, a function of governments’ control over the money supply and their ability to print fiat currency to engage in all kinds of conflict, war and bad behavior. Fiat requires no discipline, no limits or accountability. It rewards those who seek power. The quest to control the monetary printing press is sought by the most sociopathic people.
Students of Austrian economics understand that the usurpation of the free market in money has led to the most disastrous economic debacles and wars in the 20th century. When the Federal Reserve Act of 2013 was adopted by Congress and signed by Woodrow Wilson, it marked the end of the free market in money that was based on gold and silver. The Congress did a tremendous disservice to the American people by passing the Federal Reserve Act as it began a cycle of economic distortions, world wars and economic collapse that continue to this day for no longer must the Congress come to the American people and request that they turn over their property (gold or silver in the form of taxes) in order to fund this war or that program. No, the Congress can simply vote to fund this war or that program, and the Federal Reserve willingly prints the money. And this lays a hidden tax on every single American, rich and poor, in the form of inflation.
RFK Jr. who is running for President this cycle has a keen grasp of the history of fiat money and the role of the Federal Reserve in perpetuating a cycle of war, economic booms and busts and the disastrous effect on the middle class in America. The link below is link to an interview of RFK Jr. where he talks about the role of fiat currency in the wars and economic cycles of the US. Fast forward to 20:00 in the interview. But note, the entire interview is well worth a listen as he discusses Bitcoin as a freedom entity and how Bitcoin can solve America’s national debt crisis.
Finally, here is another two-minute video made by some of the most astute, recognizable, US investors who talk about the freedom aspects of Bitcoin and its potential for peoples all over the world. Well worth a listen.
More Resources:
Books:
1. The Little Bitcoin Book: Why Bitcoin Matters for Your Freedom, Finances, and Future – Simple and straight forward. Written by Bitcoin technology pioneers.
2. The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking – by Saifedean Ammous – The technical bible of Bitcoin
3. Why Buy Bitcoin: Investing Today in the Money of Tomorrow – by Andy Edstrom – Bitcoin from an investors point of view.
Podcasts and Videos:
1. Bitcoin Fundamentals with Preston Pysh – Hear interviews with the leading technologists and investors in the Bitcoin industry.
